How do you check that an online doctor or pharmacy in the UK is legitimate?

The three things to check

1. The doctor. If the prescriber is UK-based, search for them on the GMC register. The Care Quality Commission (CQC), which regulates health services in England, advises finding out who works at the service and who you are dealing with, and whether all of the doctors are registered. It adds that doctors who are not GMC-registered "may not work to the same clinical standards".

2. The service. Online doctor services provide consultations and may issue prescriptions. The CQC says that if they are based in England and directly employ GMC-registered doctors, they must be registered with it, and you can search its register, read inspection reports and see quality ratings. It also says some companies operate in a way that falls outside its scope, and that it cannot decide whether an unregistered service is safe. Services elsewhere in the UK may be regulated by Healthcare Improvement Scotland, Healthcare Inspectorate Wales or the RQIA in Northern Ireland.

3. The pharmacy. The NHS advises checking that any online pharmacy is registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC), and the CQC says services that dispense medicines must be registered with it. You can search the GPhC register. In Northern Ireland the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland keeps the register.

A legitimate service tells you where it is based, which regulators it is registered with, who its doctors are, how to contact it and what you will pay.

What you should be told with a prescription

The CQC suggests asking whether you have been given clear information about the medicine, including what it is for, when and how to take it, the possible side effects, and how it might interact with anything else you take. For hair loss medicines that includes the safety advice from the MHRA, the UK medicines regulator; see our MHRA safety updates. If a medicine is being used outside its licence, the prescriber should say so. Our guide to off-label prescribing explains what that means.

Also ask who will follow you up, and how to reach someone if you have a side effect. Good services review you after you start, not just before.

If something goes wrong

Tell the prescriber first. Report a suspected side effect through the MHRA Yellow Card scheme, which also takes reports about suspicious websites and products. If you are worried about the care or advice you were given by a service in England, the CQC invites you to tell it about your care.

WMG Meds is part of Westminster Medical Group, a CQC-registered provider, and every prescription is reviewed by a GMC-registered doctor. We would rather you checked than took our word for it. If you would like to see how an assessment works, start the free online assessment or read how it works.